News broke today that we’ve been waiting for, ever since Temu sprang into existence and rapidly grew, with massive marketing budgets attracting buyers to their shopping app. Now Temu, one of the world’s newest and most downloaded shopping apps, is opening its platform to European and US sellers.
A spokesperson for the retailer has confirmed the company’s plans and said that “many of the business details are still in the process of being finalised.” This news isn’t a total surprise as heard last year that UK retailers were being approached to sell on the marketplace.
The Temu marketplace is known for offering ultra-low prices for general merchandise by connecting consumers directly to manufacturers. This has been achieved by building a logistics flow which sees goods shipped directly from Chinese manufacturers into Temu’s fulfilment warehouse and then consolidating multiple suppliers goods as orders are placed and shipping to the UK, US and other countries.
The real savings here are that goods don’t leave China until they are sold and cuts down the multiple shipping hops we see on other marketplaces. Often goods will ship from manufacturer in China to UK retailer (who adds a margin) to a marketplace fulfilment centre, and perhaps transferred to another warehouse before eventually being shipped the final mile to the end customer. Temu have cut out almost all the unnecessary shipping stages and that results in cost savings and lower prices for consumers.
Temu haven’t announced if they’ll be opening UK and US fulfilment centres, but we think it’s highly likely, as thus far Temu haven’t allowed drop shipping, instead preferring to handle all logistics themselves. Indeed, they are so confident in their logistics that if an order is delivered as little as one day late, they’ll instantly give the consumer a £5 credit to spend off their next purchase.
Since its debut in the US, Temu has expanded to more than 40 countries, including the UK last year and South Africa this month.
With Apple app downloads surpassing popular social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, this move marks a significant step in the business’ rapid evolution.
Temu is seeing massive growth and have exhibited the bravery to invest heavily in marketing to build their audience. This is a marketplace that retailers have to at least seriously consider in 2024, and in all likelihood start selling on.
One Response
I was at one of the kids stay and play at Nursery the other day and seen this little boy amazed with some sensory toy which I recognised because we had bought it from Temu for like 25p .
We got a whole sack of stocking fillers and everything is available in the UK for 100x the price at UK retailers. We also bought a load of stuff on Vinted paid for by selling a load of stuff on Vinted. I know one of the big UK merchandise retailers had a hard time of it and a few paid the price ( not their actual fault) people are broke and here comes China to the rescue.